The $3.45 million medical malpractice lawsuit settlement of a Lockport woman, represented by David R. Barry, Jr., a Chicago personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer at Corboy & Demetrio, was reported in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

In September, 2003, Marlene Bruhmuller, 61, went to the Emergency Department at Silver Cross Hospital with complaints of severe pain in her left leg. Two years prior, she had undergone a femoral-popliteal bypass on the same leg for vascular insufficiency and had been told by her surgeon that she needed to go to the emergency room immediately if she ever developed severe pain in the leg.

Bruhmuller arrived at the Emergency Department 30 minutes after the pain began, but the triaging nurse categorized her as "urgent" rather than "emergent" and she waited four hours before being seen by a physician. Once evaluated, she was immediately diagnosed with a blockage of her bypass graft and taken directly to surgery by Dr. Vera. He, however, failed to restore adequate blood flow to the extremity and did not transfer her to Loyola University Medical Center until the next day.

As a result of the delays, Bruhmuller suffered a through-the-knee amputation of the left leg.

"Mrs. Bruhmuller did exactly what she had been instructed to do when she went to the Emergency Department with her leg pain," said attorney Barry. " This is a time-sensitive problem and there is every reason to believe she would have been fine with proper and timely care."